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At the present day we designate more peculiarly by the name of
metrology that part of the science of measurements which devotes
itself specially to the determining of the prototypes representing the
fundamental units of dimension and mass, and of the standards of the
first order which are derived from them. If all measurable quantities,
as was long thought possible, could be reduced to the magnitudes of
mechanics, metrology would thus be occupied with the essential
elements entering into all phenomena, and might legitimately claim the
highest rank in science. But even when we suppose that some magnitudes
can never be connected with mass, length, and time, it still holds a
preponderating place, and its progress finds an echo throughout the
whole domain of the natural sciences. It is therefore well, in order
to give an account of the general progress of physics, to examine at
the outset the improvements which have been effected in these
fundamental measurements, and to see what precision these improvements
have allowed us to attain.


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